Paint Me A Sub!

Some things I need to do this spring and summer...

Paint our piano. 

It's brown and boring and brown. 

This blue color looks cheery and seems like it would fit right in at our house. 

Speaking of house, I need to scour the thrift stores and antiques shops for older wooden chairs for our dining room table. 

And I'll paint them. 

In different colors. 

Because it's fun. 

I think I also want to try doing a plate wall. 

Just like in the picture above. 

Currently our dining room walls hold an array of my childrens' drawings and artwork. 

I think we all need a change.

And a new coat of paint. 

Thrift stores again for those plates. 

I just called our regional office of education to inquire about becoming a substitute teacher once Gigi goes to school in the Fall. 

Wowzers!

There's a lot involved. 

It will cost about $240 to get on the sub list. 

I think. 

I was a bit confused. 

Maybe I'm not cut out to be a sub. 

I'll need to go online for a license. 

Get a physical.

A TB test (shouldn't this just be for someone who has recently been out of the country?)

A criminal background check.

Transcripts from my university. 

Geesh!

I just want to read off of the list the regular teacher leaves me on her desk the day she's gone and needs a sub. 

I'm not going to really teach ya know. 

Back to my dining room/kitchen. 

That sub stuff has me beat. 

I have no cute backsplash in my kitchen. 

It's a white wall. 

Blech. 

I want this...

Or this...

I think I like the top one better. 

The bottom seems too fancy for my country kitchen from 1960. 

I think I'll just go out and buy a few sheets of it at a time. 

Chad is going to have so much fun putting it up. 

I just know it. 

My "Thankful" For Today

Thanksgiving is fast approaching.
A day which has really come to mean for most people a day to eat turkey, watch football, and to state our "thankfuls" on social media sites.
I am reminded of the biggest thank you I should bestow on someone who is in my life.
My thankful message goes to one individual who, without him, we wouldn't have any more thankful days to record.
I want to thank our pediatrician.
His name is Dr. Benjamin Brooks.

Our relationship began when we moved to Decatur in 2007.
We needed a new doctor and I had looked and looked before we loaded up the U-Hauls and headed south leaving our pediatrician at North Suburban Pediatrics in Evanston.
I like living in the digital age.
I like doctors and other professionals who have web sites.
I like being able to openly get information about someone, their view points, where they went to school, their views on vaccinations.
So, I scoured the world wide web and I kept coming back to one name...Ben Brooks.
I made an appointment for a visit shortly after we would be in our new house.
There was only one problem for me.
There had been no photo of this doctor.
So, as I waited in the examining room with my then two year old Zoe I was a bit apprehensive as to who would walk through the door.
I was thinking "old guy, white jacket, stethoscope around the neck."
Ugh.
But when the door opened I got quite a surprise.
In came a guy who was about my age, with a soul patch, earrings, and a studded leather belt.
The heavens opened up, light streamed in the tiny window, and I heard a melodic chorus of Hallelujah!

So, Dr. Ben Brooks has been our pediatrician since 2007.
We have seen him for all of the regular stuff...flu shots, a possible bead up the nose (which wasn't there by the time he looked up Zoe's schnoz), childhood vaccinations.
He came to see Gigi before she left the hospital after her birth in 2008.
My dad was in the room the day he came in to visit her.
He thought Dr. Brooks was one of our friends.
He was wearing a leather jacket and blue jeans.
Nope dad, that's our pediatrician.
It took him a while to believe it.

But everything went to a different level on September 7, 2010.
Dr. Brooks was on his game that day.
Had us come right into the office after I declared Zoe's symptoms that early Tuesday morning.
Wasted no time looking her over and having his associate examine her as well.
Called us right back in, sped us back to one of his examining rooms after he got the results of her bloodwork.
He cried tears as he told us that Zoe had leukemia.
He became a part of our family for life at that moment.
He will always be a part of our history.
We will forever be indebted to him.
He has saved our daughter's life.
He had on his Superman suit that day and helped save a life with his quick diagnosing.
Saved the life of my daughter that is my life as well.
If he hadn't been on his game that day and poo-pooed our concerns things may be different today.
I feel an indebtedness to him like no other.
He's in line with Zoe's oncologist.
Two men who have given us a great gift.
The gift of life for our daughter.
The gift of a future.

If Dr. Brooks' kids, or wife, or even himself need a kidney, they need to call me.
I'll give them one.
No second thoughts.
I am forever grateful to my pediatrician.
Earrings and all...

The last photo taken of Zoe before her diagnosis
and the last photo I've taken of her recently, Nov 6th.

Applause

She did it. 

Zoe has completed her first year of school. 

She was barely there, but thankfully she was born with a big brain.

Trudging through months of chemotherapy...which has done who knows what to her mind...and two weeks of radiation...whose effects have yet to be seen...she has smarted her way through kindergarten and she will officially be a first grader at 2:50pm today. 

WHEW! 

It was a tough year for her.

It started out well and then went straight into the toilet.

She has never given up and deserves a huge round of applause.

Here's to Zoe!     















A New Chapter

Webster's defines the word "kindergarten" as "a school or class for young children, usually four to six years old, that prepares them for first grade and that develops basic skills and social behavior by games, exercises, music, simple handicraft, etc." Where is the part that says "usually makes mom and dad cry to think that their baby is no longer a baby and will be absent from home for almost 7 hours making mom wonder what she is going to do with herself all day?"

Next week a new chapter in the Pramuk household will begin. A lot of friends have gone through the kindergarten experience already. We are virgins in this area and are hoping we can keep it together. Chad cried two years ago when we dropped Zoe off for her first day of preschool. I wonder if he can keep it together next week when we drop her off..I wonder if I can?

She is so eager to learn and I hope she enjoys her time at school. She loved preschool. But as with anything new, there are questions. Most of these questions are in my own head...will she make friends, will she like her teacher, will there be a class bully, will she enjoy lunch and remember to eat and not just talk through it, what if she gets stumped by something she's learning and is afraid to ask for help, why can't I go with her?

I know all of my concerns are universal mom worries. It's hard to say goodbye. It's hard to know that I'm not needed as much. It's hard to see her changing right before my eyes.





I do have Gigi to keep me company. We will have time for one-on-one mama and daughter time. We can run errands, go shopping, do some laundry, swim in the pool, make cookies, make a mess with finger painting, go to afternoon nature camp, read books and take trips to the zoo to chase the goats.

Before I know it Gigi will be off to school. I'll really cry then. Maybe I'll set up a chair outside of school and read a book in case they need me during the school day...it will give me something to do. Stare, I don't care.